Returning
by Rose Stetson
Summary: Pete has to go through the Gate to meet 'Dad.' Some SamPete, mostly SamJack
1. PreMission Jitters

**Returning**

Season 8- Some Sam and Pete, but mostly Sam and Jack

Pete goes through the Gate to meet 'Dad.'

Pete walked out of the locker room with Daniel and Teal'c. "Sam, I…I'm not so sure about this…"

She smiled at her fiancé. "Pete, trust me. It's nothing. Your first trip through the Gate is just like your first airplane ride."

He just looked at her. "I hate flying. But that's not what I'm talking about. These suits…why on Earth do you have to carry all of this stuff?"

She chuckled. "So that we're prepared for every conceivable situation."

"But as I keep saying, it's the inconceivable situations that have me worried." Jack said, approaching the group. "Mr. Shanahan."

"Pete. And it's nice to see you again, General."

"It's Jack."

"Oh, hey, speaking of conceivable scenarios and gear and Generals…Jack, do you think you could mention something about sunscreen to whoever sets us up with these suits?" Daniel asked. "I can never find any when I need it."

The group just looked at him. "What? I fry!"

"Submit a request to Walter in writing when we get back." Jack said.

"I've heard a lot about you, Jack." Pete said, as they walked toward the Gate Room.

"Don't believe a word of it. I'm actually a nice guy."

Sam laughed. "Nothing but good things, sir."

"Oh, well in that case…don't believe a word of it." Jack replied while Pete looked at him, slightly confused.

"He likes to mess with our heads every once in a while." Sam whispered.

"Oh."

They reached the ramp as the Gate began dialing. "So campers, are we ready to play with our Tok'ra buddies?"

"Tok'ra buddies?" Pete asked.

"The aliens that Dad lives with." Sam translated.

"Gotta love 'em." Jack said, sarcastically.

"Uh?" Pete said, looking at Sam.

"Let's just say that the General has had some…unique luck when it comes to the Tok'ra."

"Really?"

"Luck is a term I suppose you're using very loosely." Jack said, dryly.

"Of course."

"Huh?"

"Well, actually, Jack…it IS luck…just not GOOD luck." Daniel pointed out.

"Thank you, Danny. I could have lived my whole life without hearing that."

"I'm a little lost." Pete said.

"Well, you see, it's really simple…do you think torture is luck?"

"That would qualify as VERY bad luck." Pete agreed.

The Stargate's wormhole activated with a big kawoosh. Pete just stared at the event horizon. "Sam, babe…I swear that has GOT to be defying the laws of physics."

She laughed. "Actually, it doesn't." She saw the look of utter confusion on her fiancé's face. "I know it looks like water in which case, it would defy the laws of gravity. But it's actually the event horizon that opens an unstable wormhole. You see we use a subspace bubble to travel through another dimension to another planet inside our dimension and space…"

Jack turned to Pete. "Welcome to life with Carter." He whispered.

She realized that she was getting blank stares from Pete, Jack and a number of the other personnel in the Gate room. "Never mind. Suffice it to say…when you step through that Gate, you'll go to another planet."

"It took you eight years to finally be able to turn that into something I can understand?" Jack asked.

She smiled. "No. I could have done it when we met in the briefing room, but…I thought you deserved to be bored to tears."

"What have I done to you?"

"Do you want the long list or the short one?"

Jack shook his head. "It's time to go and see Dad."

"Dad?" Pete asked.

"Don't ask." She whispered.

"So, how's the first time?" Pete asked, as he stood right before the event horizon.

"You should ask Carter…she nearly lost her lunch. A rather big lunch as I recall."

She glared at him.

"_Maybe you shouldn't have had that big lunch, eh, Captain?"_

"You threw up?" Pete asked.

"I hadn't properly calculated for stellar drift."

"Huh?"

Jack shoved the man through. Sam looked at him. "What'd you do that for?"

"I thought I'd spare him one of your long lectures. Besides, he probably would have chickened-out."

"He's a cop."

"Ah…but I can smell fear a mile away…"

"You're really something." She said, laughing.

"Thanks, Carter. So are you."


	2. What the ?

Jack awoke a few hours later, behind the bars of a heavily guarded goa'uld prison. His head was pounding and his memory was hazy. What had happened after they'd gone through the Gate? He asked himself as he tried to clear his vision enough to account for each person under his command.

He counted three bodies. Ordinarily, that would have meant that all of the members of his team were there, but when he didn't see Carter's blond head, he became worried. It seemed like they had taken Carter and left Daniel, Teal'c, and Pete to keep him company in the spacious cell.

Had they even made contact with Jacob or any of the Tok'ra? He asked himself.

Suddenly, a groan from one of the bodies forced him to look over. "Shanahan, you okay?"

"What the hell was that?" The cop asked, clutching his head.

"I'm not sure. Could've been one of the stun grenades."

"Stun grenades? Is that even possible?"

"Indeed it is, Peter Shanahan." Teal'c replied, sitting calmly against the wall.

"Sam, you okay?" Pete asked, his eyes firmly shut, trying to shut out the pain.

"She's not here."

"Yes, she is." He said, stubbornly. "She came through the Gate with us."

"She is not presently in the same cell as we are being kept in." Teal'c said, his eyes closed as he leaned his head against the wall.

"Jack?" Daniel asked, sitting up. "Did we just get zapped by one of those Jaffa things?"

"Yep, and before you ask, they took Carter.

The archaeologist forgot all about his pounding head and stared at his friend. "Well, that's not good."

"I know."

Just then, a Jaffa came to the gate. The door was opened and the stoic first prime of Ba'al entered. "You will come with me." He said, pointing to Pete.

"Why?" Pete asked, involuntarily.

"Lord Ba'al and his queen have not encountered you before."

"His queen?" Jack asked, tauntingly. "I didn't think any of the goa'ulds would want to put up with his arrogance for eternity, let alone find a host that was even remotely attracted to his Royal Snakehead."

"The host does not matter." The burly blond-haired Jaffa said as he turned a disgusted look upon Jack. "Lord Ba'al was also quite surprised to find you on a Tok'ra base, given your relatively recent history with the Tok'ra, Kanan."

Jack raised his eyebrow. "Can you at least try to do better than that?"

"We had also heard that you were given other duties that would keep you from plaguing Lord Ba'al's life any further by going through the Stargate."

"Glad to know that I've been a royal pain in the mikta."

"Your tactics have been amusing thus far, but I have grown tired of your games. You!" He said, returning his attention to Pete. "Come with me!"

"Hey!" Jack said, hurrying up to the Jaffa. "If he gets to meet this Queen, we all get to go!"

The Jaffa looked at Jack as if studying someone who had just challenged him. Then, an evil grin spread over his features. "Perhaps it would be wise for you to all meet Lord Ba'al's queen." He looked behind him. "Jaffa kree!"

Instantly, there were two Jaffa who stepped forward, standing at attention. "Take them to the Great Hall. They wish an audience with Lord Ba'al and his queen."

The Jaffa came behind the group and pushed them down the corridor.

"Hey! Watch it!" Jack said as the Jaffa forced him to his knees.

"O'Neill. Your impudence has been sorely missed."

"Thank you." Jack said, turning around. "I hear you've gotten a queen since last we…" He noticed Sam standing at Ba'al's side.

"O'Neill, I wish for you to meet my Queen." Ba'al said, reaching out a hand to Samantha. She accepted the outstretched hand as she walked out of the shadows, adorned in elegant robes of gold and purple.

"Carter!" Jack yelled.

"O'Neill." She said, in the synthesized voice of the goa'uld.

Pete started laughing, nervously. "Sam, what's going on? Why are you talking like that? I mean is this all some big joke? Make me less nervous about meeting your dad? 'Cuz it's working."

Her eyes flashed, indicating the presence of a symbiote. "Silence!" She commanded.

"Sam…how'd you get your eyes to do that?" He asked, worried.

She outstretched her had and a golden beam of energy was pointed at Pete. He stared at her, clutched in the beam of the wrist device.

"Carter!" Jack yelled, trying to break her concentration.

However, the symbiote seemed to have inherited Sam's determination to see a project through. She barely batted an eye at the general's command.

As the minutes slipped away, each one seeming as long as the longest hour, Sam continued to torture the innocent civilian. Pete knelt submissively before the body of his fiancée. "Sam…" He begged with the last few ounces of strength he had left. "Don't…"

She looked at him, eyes glowing with satisfaction as she slowly extinguished his life. SG-1 watched in horrified fascination as Pete collapsed, his strength failing him. As he did so, Sam released him from the grip of the ribbon device. She stared at his lifeless body. "Pitiful fool." She said with an air of arrogance.

"Hey! That was YOUR fiancé!" Jack said, rising to his feet in anger.

The Jaffa guarding her moved to restrain him, but she raised her hand to stop him. "You would seek retribution for your competitor's demise at the hand of your prize?" She asked, her eyebrow raised.

"You are not, nor will you ever be, Samantha Carter." He said, his eyes blazing with vehemence.

She stepped back, surprised for a moment at the strength with which he affirmed his statement. "Your feelings for my host are strong." She said, circling her prisoner.

He was stubbornly silent.

Her eyes flashed with anger. "I was looking forward to punishing you for your insolence, but I was looking forward even more to experiencing your rapier wit and insulting language. Do not disappoint me now, or it will be the last thing you do."

She raised her hand and activated the beam. Jack grabbed her wrist as the pain forced him to his knees. "No!" He gasped.

There was a moment where Sam's eyes looked at him with compassion and pain, the connection weakening. Her hand quivered while host and symbiote fought for control of the body. Jack fell to the ground, the pain overcoming him as the connection was entirely broken. The symbiote flashed her eyes in anger as Sam dramatically pushing her robes out of the way as she retreated to the sarcophagus.

Ba'al turned to the Jaffa. "Take them back to their cell." Then, he followed Sam into their private chambers.


	3. Rescue

Jack turned to return to the cell with Daniel and Teal'c while two of the Jaffa carried Pete's body away. His head hurt, but that was nothing compared to the heavy heart that he had right now. Sam was Ba'al's queen. And if he didn't find them a way out now, she would stay that way for a very long time.

They reached a corridor the end of the corridor, and as the First Prime turned to lead them back to their cell, they heard a voice behind them. "Jaffa! Kree!"

The First Prime turned and as a result, all of the members of SG-1 turned as well. As they did so, they found Jacob standing before them, dressed as a minor goa'uld.

"Lord Karak!" The Jaffa said, bowing.

"Lord Ba'al wishes the prisoners to suffer by my hand for the sins they have committed."

"We shall remain." He said, standing up, one hand over his heart as a sign of allegiance.

Selmak's eyes flashed. "You think that your god cannot handle whatever these…humans…can handle?" He spat the word 'human' out with considerable contempt, and even the three remaining members of SG-1 were afraid that he meant what he had said about the torture.

"My Lord, these are not ordinary humans. They are SG-1 andhave defeated many of the…"

"LEAVE!" Selmak ordered.

All of the Jaffa except the first prime scurried away. Selmak walked up to him, his hands behind his back. "You dare question the command of your god?" He asked, carefully.

"No, my Lord." He said, swallowing as he looked into the eyes of the Tok'ra. Whatever he saw in them scared him because all of a sudden, he scuttled away after his patrol.

As soon as he was far enough away, Jack turned to Jacob. "Nice."

"Jack, what the hell were you thinking?" Jacob asked, trying not to raise his voice as they ducked into another corridor.

"I really meant what I just said…" Jack said. "It's SO nice to see you."

"Jacob, you have to leave." Daniel said, realization dawning. "It's not safe for you to be here anymore."

"Yes, Daniel, I know. You three blew my cover. I was about ready to undermine Ba'al's position as one of the system lords when…where's Sam?"

"Carter is Ba'al's new queen. See our point? You see him, she'll see you. Then, it's Good-bye Jake!"

"Sam's been taken as a host?"

"Indeed. And the symbiote killed her betrothed."

"Pete?"

"And tried to kill Jack." Daniel said at the same time.

"The symbiote managed to kill her fiancée, but left Jack relatively uninjured?"

"Okay…" Jack said, trying to get the men to stop talking about him.

"On second thought, what was Pete doing here?"

"Well, we were piggy-backing the trade-negotiations with the whole 'meet dad' expedition, but…let's just say that things didn't go as planned."

"Who told you I'd be there? I've been working on this for weeks."

"You didn't send a message to go to the Tok'ra homeworld?" Jack asked.

"No. I would never have suggested the Sam bring her fiancée through the Stargate. I would have gone to the SGC. In fact, I was going to go there for a long vacation after this assignment."

"Well, thanks for springing us. Now, it's time for us to get Carter."

"Jack, I have one alkesh at my disposal. One. You get captured, and I can't guarantee that we'll be able to get off the planet."

"We're not leaving her behind, Jacob."

"I'm not suggesting that we do."

"Then what the hell ARE you suggesting?"

"Jack, she's my daughter!"

By now, the two men were standing in front of each other, ready to take the other down. "Hey, guys…we're all on the same side here…"

Jack and Jacob took steps away from one another and took a couple of deep breaths each.

"Okay. Jacob, you and Daniel get the alkesh. Teal'c and I will get Carter. We'll get the ring room and you guys ring us aboard."

Jack started jogging down the hallway. "Jack!" Jacob called.

Jack turned in time to catch the zat gun thrown his way.

"Good luck."

Jack nodded in appreciation.


End file.
